1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to shipping platforms, and more specifically, to a recyclable, heavy duty, lightweight, moisture resistant corrugated fiberboard pallets.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pallets are typically used to ship and store a wide variety of materials and products. Traditional wooden pallets are made from wood, are strong and easily stackable. However, wooden pallets do have several problems. First, they are relatively high priced. Second, they are designed to be used repeatedly, necessitating costly repairs when damaged. Third, they are heavy, increasing shipping freight charges, and placing additional strain on moving equipment, such as forklifts. Fourth, they are not easily recycled since the nails or staples must first be removed, and as a result wood pallets are usually dumped into already overflowing landfills. Fifth, they are expensive, awkward and time consuming to assemble requiring either expensive machinery or laborers to impute the nails or tacks. Sixth, they are a problem to transport after use. Other problems include a decreasing supply of readily available slow growing hardwood and insect infestation.
Attempting to address the problems associated with traditional wooden pallets, numerous pallet constructions, made predominantly of paperboard material, such as corrugated fiberboard, have been designed. Some examples of this type of pallet include U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,892, issued in the name of Kilpatrick, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,600, issued in the name of Speese et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,812, issued in the name of Kilpatrick et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,066, issued in the name of Mendoza et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,679, issued in the name of Moorman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,913, issued in the name of Winebarger et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,558, issued in the name of Wozniacki, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,672, issued in the name of Gordon, et al.
In general, these types of pallets are an improvement over the wood pallet in that they are of lighter weight and sell for less than traditional wooden pallets.
However, these corrugated paper board pallet constructions suffer from numerous problems. First, they lack sufficient strength for use in storage of traditional products in warehouses and other commercial and industrial applications. Pallets must be constructed of component parts, such as runners or beams, that enable the pallet to be stored without any support while loaded or being lifted in cantilever fashion on short forks of a fork lift.
Second, pallets must be usable in heavy load applications. To increase the strength of its component parts to ensure this, the runners and stringers have been made with complicated structures requiring expensive machinery to assemble and increasing the cost of production. Thus, the high speed assembly process necessary to ensure the cost effectiveness of corrugated paperboard pallets in heavy load applications is not present. Third, the pallets cannot be stacked as conveniently and securely as traditional wood pallets, thus requiring the payloads on the paperboard pallets to be reduced, thus increasing costs to transporters, retailers and inevitably the consumer. Fourth, the pallet constructions lack durability required to be used with forklifts. Non-wood pallets are particularly susceptible to sideways movements which can collapse the runners or actually separate a runner from the rest of the pallet and container system. If a fork lift engages the pallet runners at a wrong angle or with too much force, the pallet can collapse or otherwise be damaged beyond usefulness. Fifth, their use is severely limited by the fact that the pallets are not moisture resistant. Their structural integrity is compromised when the pallets are used near moisture, such as on docks, or when used to store products that may melt or release moisture before, during or after transport. Sixth, the pallet is not totally recyclable, thus necessitating that the pallet be placed in landfills when inevitable structural failure occurs.
No single device solves all the problems discussed above. As one problem is solved, another problem arises. For example, some devices attempt to solve the moisture, strength and durability problems by combining plastic and corrugated cardboard or other paper products in the pallet. The problem with this approach is that the pallet is not easily recyclable. The plastic and paperboard must be separated prior to recycling. In addition, these plastic and paper board pallets are expensive and difficult to manufacture and assemble.
Consequently, a need has been felt for an improved, recyclable, heavy duty, lightweight, moisture resistant corrugated fiberboard pallet that can be easily, efficiently, and cost effectively manufactured and assembled.